Last fall when I was looking for a new bike, I really wanted a TE250, but was totally discouraged by the seat height (I'm 5'4"). I ended up with a Honda CRF230L. I'm enjoying the L, but would have much rather had the TE250 (for obvious reasons!). Now that I realize the Husky could be lowered to fit me, I'm thinking that a TE250 or even the new TE310 could be a possible next bike. I am wondering about the capabilites of these bikes. I keep reading over and over, on several different forums, that these bike cannot cruise at 55mph for extended periods. I really find that hard to believe, because my little 230L can do that no problem. The Husky has tons more horsepower than my 230, so I would think that it would run circles around my bike, both off-road and on-road. I primarily ride dirt roads and occasionally easy singletrack, but I often have to ride on secondary highways to connect up with these roads/trails. I have to be able to cruise at 55mph to keep from getting run over! Riding up to 100 miles on pavement at 55mph is a real possibility for me. So is the TE250 or the TE310 capable of what I need it to do?
You could gear the TE 250 to more easily manage 55. It would take away some of it's low end ability to crawl. I don't think the TE 250 is the type of bike to ride 100 miles on pavement to be able to hit the dirt roads. A TE 610 would be that bike. They are very capable for what you want to ride, dirt roads, easy singletrack and riding extended miles on the highway. Lots of 610s go on the Baja rides.
Or the 510- I suppose you do a lot of wide open riding and higher speeds could result in a smaller engine being stressed out. I guess it depends on how much of a dirtbike you need.
Capable yes, but it is the wrong tool for the job (maybe). If the easy single track is 10mph type stuff you can gear it taller and it would not be to bad but... I would opt for a wider gearbox for what you describe. We had a crf230F which probably has the same gearbox as the crf230L and is super wide, similar to the TE610. The 230f would do 60mph with stock gearing but that is all it would do. My 2006 TE250 will go over 80mph with stock gearing but that is at the 12,500 rev limiter which is not a great thing to do to a nice bike... and for what ever reason gets blown around pretty easy compared to the 230f we had i.e. no fun on the road. The TE250 will go... maybe 6mph smoothly, to go slower I need to slip the clutch. If you can arrange it a test ride on a TE610 might be of interest to you, or maybe a road legal ktm cause those gearboxes are wider too, but not as wide as the TE610. In addition there are several things about the TE610 that makes it much more road worthy than a TE250/310 like much more centrifugal force of the motor keeping it going in a straight line instead of getting blown around in the wind, counter balancer, cush drive...
Capable? Yes. does it feel right? no. Does it hurt the bike? probably not. I have my 2006 TE250 geared 12/54 from the stock 13/52 and am turning 9800 rpm at a gps indicated 50 mph. My last ride on it was two days of hard single track followed by a day of a 190 mile dual sport ride with 30-40 miles of pavement and and lots of fast dirt road. I regularly have 20-40 miles of pavement to get to and from good riding and do cruise at 60. The valves have never needed adjustment in 2700 miles. It feels like you are thrashing it running high speeds and going to blow it up, but I really think riding it at high rpm and steady part throttle is a lot less hard on it than thrashing it hard on the trail and doing climbs with lots of on and off full throttle, winding it out in first and second and using the clutch a lot. You do get used to it after a while.
Lots of road hugging weight, via the rider Quote: Originally Posted by terryth ...I have my 2006 TE250 geared 12/54 from the stock 13/52... __________________ Dean
The 230L is geared quite differently than the F. Top speed is about 75mph. It does seem that the TE610 would do what I want, but at my size, that's lot of bike. I'm not sure I would do too well off-road on a bike of that size and weight. I'm drawn to the 250/310, because of the lighter weight. Even those seem heavy to me, but lighter than most other options. I've also been looking at a Yamaha WR250R. That might be better suited for my riding style, but it's quite heavy too. Riding a bike that weighs 3X as much as me is not ideal.
I was referring to the top/bottom gearing ratio. For example going 3000 rpms on a TE250 in top gear at a certain speed, after shifting down to 1st gear the rpms will be 2.5 x higher at that same speed (7500 rpms). Which is about what a drz or 450x would do. The TE610 & 230F would be about 3.3x or 10,000 rpms - except there is a rev limiter... not sure what that is set to. I'm just trying to illustrate a point. It is possible the 230L & 230F are similar in that respect but have different sprocket gearing. In any event there are few options for a light dirt bike with license plate and if it were me, for what you want to do, I'd look at the KTM 450 plate dirtbike cause they have a wider gearbox and are a bit lighter. Just trying to be honest, but please try to hop on a few bikes and decide for yourself.
jckid, Just curious, you mention 5'-4", but what weight and yrs/type of riding experience? I don't mean to get too personal, just sometimes that helps people put it all together and allows suggestions to maybe be more tailored to your specific needs. IMO the TE310 is near perfect size all around street legal trail bike and I feel the TE250/310 would great bikes for a lot of people.....however, may not be the perfect bike for everyone. Again, just my opinion, but to me there's no doubt TE's lean more toward dirt riders than other mfr's. I'd say Husky is 80% dirt / 20% lighter duty street that can handle a bit higher speed road work once in a while, where I would put ones like the new WR250R closer to 60% street-dirt road / 40% lighter duty trails that can handle a bit tougher trails once in a while. Not trying to talk you or anyone out of a Husky, but I do especially agree w/Coffee's comments above being honest to yourself and hopping on a few different bikes........don't let listed weight alone sway you too much, how they handle that weight when riding in more important
I'm 5'4" and 105lbs. I'm a runner and cyclist, and I consider myself to be fairly strong for my size, but not very strong compared to most people. If I drop a 300lb. bike, I kind of doubt I will be able to pick it up myself. I've been riding off and on over the last 30+ years--started young. I'm not an expert rider by any means, but not a beginner either. The people I ride with are not aggressive riders at all. I love riding single-track, but I don't get to ride it too often since they would rather ride fire roads and backcountry pavement, hence the need for something that can keep a decent pace on the road. So the consenus seems to be that the TE250 might not be ideal for me, but what about the 310? I guess it's really just a bored out 250, so maybe it wouldn't be much different? The Yamaha WR250R seems like a good choice for me, but I really don't like Yamahas. Husky's and KTM's appeal to me the most. Maybe I will look at the KTM. Choices seem really limited, especially for smaller riders like me.
I second your Yamaha feeling.....I started on Yamaha's, but they and I have never really hit it off. For some reason there seems to be a riding personality clash between us, so I switched and have owned mostly Suzuki for 28yrs until my current Husky (I'm the same way w/Fords, they always broke on me) At 105lbs I now understand your concern. I was worried about weight of one bike for a nephew about your size (CRF230F). The dealer actually (very gently) laid the bike on it's side to see if he could lift it....now his current bike. Might not hurt to ask if they would do that for you. Here again, where the bike carries it's weight makes quite a difference. I had a '94 DR350 and another nephew had (has) a DRZ400, although I don't believe it, the claimed weight was similar, yet the top heavy DRZ was much more trouble lifting back onto the wheels than my DR (neither was fun attempting to pick-up over a log....matter of fact, 3yrs ago, tore my right bicep loose at the elbow doing just that) I would still ride a few, including the TE250 and TE310 if possible. Although I don't think 100mile 55mph road trips would be the TE's happy place, if you did decide on a TE250/310, something I've mentioned I've done before, is pack spare front sprocket. Put the larger on for highway, then take 5 minutes and switch to smaller for trails and/or dirt road. Little bit of a hassle, but it helps.
I saw this lowered 310 set up for a gal the same height as me: http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2019 This is definitely encouraging. I guess I really need to ride one to figure out if it will work for me. My dealer offered to let me ride the 250, but since I can't touch the ground, I'm a little leary of trying it out. When I sat on that one, the bike didn't sag one bit. I don't think I could even get one foot down on the ground without toppling over. On the bright side, the TE weighs about the same as my lowly 230L.
Take him up on the offer! It took me 10 seconds to figure out that a TC450 was not the bike for me - too much engine, too narrow of a gearbox, and no estart The TE250 is perfect for me. I'm fairly sure the TE310 is rides the same except it has a little more umph everywhere.
I thought the stock rear final was a 50 ? I've got mine at 12 on the front also... I guess I need to go out in the garage and count... be back in a minute...
Still counting? LOL... The 2006 TE250 came with 13/50 (cause that is what I've got) The stock sprockets keep changing from the factory by year & bike model though.
better choices out there for your kind of riding... the TE really is plated for short stints on the road. Other than that, it's a rocket compared to your CRF and is geared as such. The short gear spacing keeps it in the power everywhere. Unless you are 2 gears too high, turn the throttle & there it is. As a result, it never really levels off like a true D.S. bike, but then (contrary to what you would read in an issue of DR) it's really not intended to be used as a true D.S. This is a high-strung bike that has enough lighting to make it street legal. It is a wolf in sheep's clothing so to speak. If you're going to do that much cruising, you need a bike that is a little more street-oriented-believe it. The TE's are not street-oriented at all, they just have enough blinkers and a place to put a plate to keep you from getting a ticket (speeding tickets excluded). A WR-250R Yamaha would work better for you and save you about $1,800.00. power is ample and waaaaaaaay better than your CRF. I love my TE, and I keep the plate up just in case, but I don't ride it 64 miles round trip to work anymore like I thought I was going to. It's my dirt weapon & that's where it was bred to be unleashed. If you have the budget for it, it I personally would reccommend this option...
